The speaker of the Ekurhuleni metro council, Helen Mekgwe, was appointed as the new mayor in Germiston on Tuesday.
Mekgwe takes over from Duma Nkosi, who requested to be relieved of his duties after angering the South African Municipal Workers’ Union when he refused to accept a memorandum at a recent march.
The union called on Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa to sack him.
Nkosi also faced criticism for reappointing police chief Robert McBride, currently on leave pending the outcome of a charge of drunken driving against him.
However, Mekgwe commended Nkosi for a job well done, thanking him for the ”tireless and selfless efforts you made in building the smart, creative and developmental city”.
”We can confidently say that comrade Duma Nkosi and the collective he led laid a solid foundation for us to continue the good work they commenced after the 2006 March municipal elections.”
In her inaugural address, she also said: ”Our work will continue to be guided by our four focus areas as adopted in our five-year programme. These focus areas are infrastructure development, social transformation, economic transformation and institutional transformation.”
She said as a collective council and united in purpose and action, its efforts will at all times be guided by the need to unite residents into an integrated force behind the municipality.
To succeed in this enormous task, Mekgwe said the council needs to ensure that unity in action is people-centred and development-driven.
The council appointed Patricia Khumalo as the new council speaker with Moses Maseko retaining his seat as chief whip. — Sapa